Tourism team says, 'You've got a friend in Bristol'

19/05/2011

Categories: Official press releases

 

Today, tourism officials in Bristol launched a creative new marketing campaign with a big bang and surprise ending.

Destination Bristol unveiled the campaign today at a press conference at the Avon Gorge Hotel, overlooking the picturesque Clifton Suspension Bridge. Those in attendance included tourism industry stakeholders, media and the new Lord Mayor of Bristol, Geoffrey Gallop. The marketing campaign is called ‘You’ve got a friend in Bristol’ and aims to encourage visits to Bristol through quirky, yet inviting characters who assure visitors to the city of a warm and friendly welcome.

At the press conference, John Hallett, Managing Director of Destination Bristol explained why the initiative is expected to raise awareness of Bristol, as well as a few eyebrows.

“Although the campaign uses a light-hearted way of telling Bristol’s story, the justification of the message has a strong business focus in mind”, Hallett said. He added, “We were looking at new and slightly tongue in cheek ways to raise awareness about Bristol ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games, and to capitalise upon the opportunities that being at the heart of this great city-region present during 2011. Our aim was to create a campaign that would be welcoming and attract attention, but one that would deliver very real economic benefits to the city. We have chosen a number of instantly recognisable and iconic characters from Bristol’s past and present to get the message across and promote our key visitor interests”.

The characters which include the likes of Wallace and Gromit, Blackbeard the Pirate, Mr Brunel, John Cabot, a Clownfish named Charlie, a Lemur, balloon pilot and even a church cat named Tom are a few of the interesting friends that Bristol has to offer. Each of the characters share recommendations for visitors to experience activities related to the character’s online ‘friend profile’, linking them to the visitor interests of the consumer. The characters will even interact with one another on Facebook while educating visitors about their topics of interest from arts, events, attractions, shopping, dining and more.

‘It’s a great way for visitors to go to our website and learn more about Bristol through our characters,” said Jessica McDonald, Marketing Executive at Destination Bristol.

At the end of the press conference, the marketing team unveiled a surprise arts and music character to represent Bristol’s cultural and urban side, called Bellatrix. Belle Ehresman (Bellatrix) is the female world beatbox champion and a Bristol jazz musician. She gave a beatbox tutorial at the press conference and wowed spectators with her unique beat. Immediately after the Bellatrix performance, attendees walked down to a terrace overlooking the Clifton Suspension Bridge where all of the Bristol characters were holding the letters ‘You’ve got a friend in Bristol’ in front of the bridge. Organisers from Upfest, the urban paint festival, were also on the terrace painting a 16-foot wide graffiti art mural of the characters. The artists who completed the mural were Lokey and Ian Phenna.

During the event, the marketing team also explained how the campaign aims to draw attention to key events taking place in 2011 and beyond. John Hallett added “We have an array of exciting new developments in 2011 such as the opening of Bristol’s new £26 million museum, M Shed; Bristol Zoo Gardens’s 175^th anniversary, a new £1.5 million science exhibition in At-Bristol and more. We wanted to highlight more than ever the amazing range of things to experience and see in and around Bristol during this time and of course next year we have the 2012 Games”.

Another key aim of the ‘You’ve got a friend in Bristol’ campaign is to encourage those that have friends and relatives in the city, to visit their loved ones, a sector that accounts for almost 40% of domestic and international visits to Bristol. Up to 165,000 people outside of Bristol may receive postcards that Destination Bristol has offered to Bristolians in order to invite their friends and relatives to the city. The postcards include buy 1, get 1 free offers.

McDonald added, “It is always difficult to market a destination creatively so that it stands out from the crowd. We therefore came up with the idea to let the characters who have shaped Bristol over many generations tell our story in a unique way.”

An overview of Bristol characters includes:

Blackbeard the Pirate: Represents history, the Harbourside and Bristol’s pirating past

Wallace and Gromit: Represent At-Bristol, Aardman Animations and Bristol for families

John Cabot: Highlights all things Cabot in Bristol, history and Bristol’s ties to America

Mr Brunel: Represents all things Brunel in Bristol including boats, bridges and more

Kat Walker: Bristol’s shopping and fashion guru

Clive the Balloon Pilot: A ballooning, sport and adventure enthusiast

Charlie the Clownfish: Loves the Bristol Aquarium, conservation and all things water

Tom the Church Cat: A cat with an interesting story who loves Sacred Bristol

Larry the Lemur: Represents Bristol Zoo Gardens’ 175^th anniversary and green Bristol

Bellatrix: Represents Bristol’s arts and music scene, urban Bristol and more

To learn more about the ‘You’ve got a friend in Bristol’ campaign and meet Bristol’s quirky characters at VisitBristol.co.uk/Friends. To contact the Bristol Tourist Information Centre, dial 0906 711 2191 (calls charged at 50p per minute plus network extras) or email ticharbourside@destinationbristol.co.uk.

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